Die Young
by Alyssacookie
Summary: It came with the job. Natasha and Clint, dealing with Coulson's death. Drabble. -Clintasha (If you squint.)


**A/N: "I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums…oh, what a shame that you came here with someone…so while you're here in my arms…let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young…"**

There was never any misunderstanding between agents on what they expected their lives to be. Each man and woman who worked for the organization understood that they were expendable. They came to work knowing that one day they might die in some horrible way while others looked on.

Which is why most of them had the good sense not to form emotional attachments. Most agents didn't have any family to speak of, and they tried to not get too attached to their co-workers. Peers and friendship were for those who had time to live and survive.

Natasha Romanoff, the illustrious Black Widow, had made a crucial mistake.

She hadn't meant to get so attached to her handler or her partner. Coulson had taken charge of her, a charity case that no one else could trust – rightfully so. Her handler was firm when he needed to be with her even though she could have snapped his neck with her ankles.

Coulson had also carried a level of naïveté that she had honestly only seen with the smallest children. With the children she felt disappointed for their loss, as her encounters with the young often involved death. She was callous to innocence and the loss of it. Coulson intrigued her with his upbeat attitude.

Originally Natasha didn't trust either of them, and spent every single night sleeping with one eye open. She spent her free time planning how to free herself from the airship. This was because even though the woman had accepted Barton's offer to join the organization it was only because he had an arrow to her throat and she had pathetically valued her life.

The assassin had stayed because Coulson had originally won her over. How could have it been Barton? In her life, anyone who was able to take you down needed to be taken out. Since she couldn't do that she ignored the man usually and kept her distance. She had convinced herself that she would only stay for a week, a month, six months.

Natasha squinted into the wind from her perch on top of the Stark Building. In the aftermath of the Avengers saving New York and possibly the world, they had retreated to Tony's building to recover. Bruce was injured the least and treated their wounds the best he could with help from Jarvis and Pepper.

To her displeasure, there were footsteps on the roof behind her. It was Clint, of course. Her partner had always liked retreating to high places.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked quietly.

The Black Widow shook her head tersely. Her shoulders went up slightly, the only other sign that she was tensed up.

Clint visibly wilted. Their partnership had been damaged when he was compromised. He knew they needed to talk about it, but that could wait. At least until tomorrow. The man walked over the redhead and sat down next to her quietly, staring out at the city.

"Missing Coulson?" He asked quietly.

Natasha drew her knees up to her chest. "He was all I had," she whispered quietly.

"You have me," Barton said as he raised an eyebrow.

She shook her head. "I almost lost you." Her eyes focused on her hand as she clenched her fingers into a fist before relaxing. "I would've done it." She paused. "We're expendable. I got to comfortable thinking that this," she motioned between both of them and the sky, "would always be here."

Clint was silent. "This," he began, "will always be here. Coulson knew what this job was – we both do. It's not an excuse not to care."

"But why would he…" she choked out, "he was so stupid-!"

Her partner shifted closer to her when he saw her shaking. To his surprise Natasha was actually crying quietly with soft hiccups and sobs that wracked her whole body. Cautiously he drew her small from to lean on him, sharing all of her stress and pain with his more solid form. He hummed something – a country song whose name he couldn't recall against her hair.

Yes, they were meant to die young.

But that hadn't stopped Coulson from living, so Clint wouldn't let it stop them.

**A/N: Please tell me your thoughts, more of a drabble/character study than anything.**


End file.
